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Monthly Archives: November 2012

If you have never made your own mincemeat, then this is the recipe to change your mind about homemade versus shop bought. My lovely friend Rachel makes this every year and sells it at the school Christmas. Children will love mixing this all up and then bottling it. I also think it makes a great gift, I love getting food presents…one of my favourite things!

This is without any doubt the best Sticky Toffee Pudding I have ever made or eaten. I usually cook this for my bonfire night parties, I make huge trays of it and there is rarely any left. This picture was taken by my son Miles, he gave this recipe a go after being unimpressed with the other ones he’d tried. As you can see it turned out perfectly, he now makes it for a restaurant on the Gold Coast, Australia. This is such a wonderful winter dessert, you can’t fail to please your diners with this one.

What you will need for your Sticky Toffee Pudding

For the pudding:

230 ml (8 fl ozs)water

200 g (7ozs) pitted dates

110 g (4ozs) butter, cubed

170 g (6ozs) caster sugar

2½ tsp coffee granules

2 vanilla pods, seeds removed

2 eggs, plus 1 egg yolk

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

200 g (7ozs) self-raising flour

Butter for greasing

A sprinkling of plain flour

For the sauce:

200 g (7ozs) cubed butter

450 g (16ozs) dark brown sugar

400 ml (14 fl ozs) single cream

How to make your Sticky Toffee Pudding

1. For the pudding, preheat the oven to 160C (or 150C if using a fan oven).

2. Pour the water into a pan, add the pitted dates and place over the heat for 7-9 minutes to allow the dates to break down and fall apart. Watch the dates, don’t boil the water away completely-move the pan away from the heat to avoid this.

3. In another pan, melt the cubed butter. Once the butter is melted add the caster sugar and stir in.

4. Melt the coffee granules in a very small amount of warm water. Add the seeds from the vanilla pod ( or you can use vanilla paste).

5. Whisk the eggs and egg yolk so the whites and the yolks are just combined.

6.Once the dates are cooked, stir in the bicarbonate of soda and take off the heat immediately. Pour the date mixture into a mixing bowl then add the sugar/butter mix followed by the flour, coffee paste and finally the eggs so they are gently presented to the heat (avoiding any curdling).

7. Mix all the ingredients together with a whisk then pour the mixture into a 23cm x 30cm dish. Place in the preheated oven for 40 minutes.

10.10 minutes before the pudding is ready, start to make the sauce. First melt the cubed butter, again bringing it off the heat so it doesn’t burn. Slowly add the dark brown sugar while mixing. Place back on the heat and stir well, not allowing the sauce to sit still. Stir whilst boiling until the sugar crystals have broken down.

8. Take off the heat and keep stirring while you slowly add the cream. Stir until the cream is well-mixed into the sauce. Pour into a jug.

9. Serve the sticky toffee pudding in squares drizzled with the sauce, I like to serve with cream or a good ice-cream.

This freezes and then reheats in the microwave really well. Perfect for nights when you really need a dessert, but haven’t got the time or energy to make one.

I think this is the earliest I have ever managed to cook a Christmas cake. Last night, after work I made this one and the only reason I attempted it was because I knew it was going to be quick and easy. Sometimes, I start making things like this only to find it has taken much longer than I thought, it becomes late, I become over tired and well basically I wish I’d gone to M&S! So my friends, I bring you probably the easiest Christmas cake ever and
probably one of the yummiest.

1.Put the butter, sugar, fruit, zests, juice and 100ml/3½fl oz brandy in a large pan. Bring slowly to the boil, stirring until the butter has melted. Reduce the heat and bubble for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

2.Remove the pan from the heat and leave to cool for 30 minutes.

3.Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 150C/gas 2/ fan 130C and line the cake tin. Toast the nuts in a dry frying pan, tossing them until evenly browned, or in the oven for 8-10 minutes – keep an eye on them as they burn easily. When they are cool, chop roughly. Stir the eggs, nuts and ground almonds into the fruit mixture and mix well. Sift the flour, baking powder and spices into the pan. Stir in gently, until there are no traces of flour left.

4.Spoon the mixture into the tin and smooth it down evenly – you will find this is easiest with the back of a metal spoon which has been dipped into boiling water.

5.Bake for 45 minutes, then turn down the heat to 140C/gas 1/ fan120C and cook for a further 1-1¼ hours (about a further 1¾ hours if you have a gas oven) until the cake is dark golden in appearance and firm to the touch. Cover the top of the cake with foil if it starts to darken too much. To check the cake is done, insert a fine skewer into the centre – if it comes out clean, the cake is cooked.

6.Make holes all over the warm cake with a fine skewer and spoon the extra 4tbsp brandy over the holes until it has all soaked in. Leave the cake to cool in the tin. When it’s cold, remove it from the tin, peel off the lining paper, then wrap first in baking parchment and then in foil. The cake will keep in a cupboard for up to three months or you can freeze it for six months.

This recipe has just been given to me by my ‘Beer Cookery Specialist’ Stephen Spaeder. Stephen decided to make his own bread for my ‘Beefy beer and Bread’ recipe, giving this dish a double whammy of beer! This bread takes minutes to prepare, no kneading, no long wait and is a perfect partner for any beef stew. You really need to give this a try and let us know how you liked it. It was an absolute winner in our house.

This is one of my favourite winter recipes. It smells so good and will leave a really christmassy aroma throughout your home. This recipe is simple and uses very few ingredients. The pears need to be hard which makes things easy as finding ripe pears at this time of year is often difficult. I like to serve these delicious pears with some vanilla flavoured creme fraiche.

You will need

8 large hard pears

1 pint (570ml) red wine

2oz (50g) caster sugar

2 whole cinnamon sticks

1 vanilla pod

1 rounded dessertspoon arrowroot

How to make your red wine pears

1. Preheat oven to gas mark ½, 250°f, 130°c.

2. Using a potato peeler, thinly peel each pair leaving the stalks intact. If your pears dont stand up very well on their own, take a thin slice of the bottom. This will make them look prettier when serving 😉

3. Lay the pears in a casserole dish on their sides and pour over the wine, add the sugar, cinnamon sticks and vanilla pod.

4.Bring everything to the boil on the hob, then cover and bake on a low shelf in the oven for 1½ hrs. Then take the casserole pot out of the oven and then turn the pears over on their other side. Cover and put the pan back into the oven and cook for a further 1½hrs.

5. Lift the pairs out of the pot and into a serving dish. Remove the cinnamon sticks and vanilla pod.

6. Place the casserole dish with the spiced wine back on the hob. Mix arrowroot and alittle water in acup to make a smooth paste. add this to the liquid whisking as you go. Bring just up to simmering point. remove from heat.

7. When the syrup is cool, spoon over the pears, basting them well. Cover and place in the fridge to chill.